Performance of a computer system that processes requests from client devices may change abruptly, especially if the computer system experiences irregular traffic. Performance changes may be attributable to changes in workload, changes in configuration, software updates, etc. If performance of a computer system that performs many tasks, experiences irregular traffic, and has many hardware or software components declines, then it may be difficult to not only identify the source of the problem, but also determine whether the problem is one that originates with the computer system or just a result of normal operating conditions. If it is presumed that the computer system is suffering from an internal problem that does not exist or is low priority, then much valuable time and effort may be wasted searching for a solution. It would be helpful, for example, to determine that a decrease in system performance is due to a change in workload (which might not require immediate attention) rather than in a poorly-designed software program, which might require immediate attention. As another example, if only a few requests are negatively impacted by a system issue, then such an issue may not need to be immediately identified and addressed.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.